HURTS SO GOOD: LACKEY PITCHES THROUGH PAIN SHUTS OUT SEATTLE FOR SIX INNINGS.

Byline: DOUG PADILLA 

Staff Writer

SEATTLE -- John Lackey was in survival mode Wednesday, holding off the Seattle Mariners while gritting his teeth.

Already hobbling on a sore left ankle, the trainer had to be called to the mount twice, but Lackey continued on to pitch the Angels to a 5-0 victory the day after the Mariners scored 11 runs on 14 hits against them.

It was the Angels' third shutout of the season and second since in the past eight days.

Lackey first winced in the opening inning, when he tweaked the outside of his left ankle while fielding a ball in front of home plate. After a visit from the trainer, Lackey was retook the mound.

In the fifth inning, more trouble arrived in the form of a comebacker off the bat of Kenji Johjima. The ball bounced off the inside of Lackey's left ankle for a base hit. Again the trainer was called, and again Lackey pressed on.

"It's just a bruise man, I'll be fine," said Lackey, who injured the ankle while running over the weekend. "It got me out of running the last few days."

Lackey held things together long enough to turn in six shutout innings. His night was cut short after 90 pitches.

He gave up four hits with four strikeouts and his only walk was intentional.

That walk was a roll of the dice in the sixth inning, when the Angels were clinging to a 2-0 lead. Raul Ibanez was given a one-out free pass to load the bases and bring up Richie Sexson.

All Sexson had done in his career against Lackey before Wednesday was bat .429 with two home runs. But the plan worked. Sexson hit a ground ball to third base that Chone Figgins turned into a force out at home.

"I felt my game was better suited toward that, and I was confident I could get a ground ball," Lackey said.

Lackey ended the threat by striking out Jose Guillen.

"John felt much better trying to set up the double play," Angels manager Mike Scioscia. "Those were two big at-bats, and he made some good pitches there.

"We walked Ibanez a couple of times last year and Richie's hurt us, but you're just trying to play percentages and find a comfort level at that time."

Before the sixth inning, the Mariners's bats were extremely quiet, a far cry from their outburst in the series opener. After Ichiro Suzuki singled to open the game, Lackey went on to retire 14 consecutive batters until Johjima's single off Lackey's ankle in the fifth.

"He's our ace and we feel comfortable that we can bounce back every time he pitches," Orlando Cabrera said of Lackey.

Suzuki's single gave him hits in six consecutive at-bats. He was finally retired in the third inning on a ground ball to first base, but came right back with a single in the sixth.

The Angels again used the first inning to get a jump on their opponent. Reggie Willits opened the game with a double and scored on a single by Gary Matthews Jr. Then Casey Kotchman followed with an RBI single of his own.

The Angels are 14-3 when the score in the first inning and 19-7 when they score first.

A three-run outburst in the seventh inning gave the Angels a 5-0 lead and made it easier to take Lackey out of the game. Willits had an RBI single and Cabrera followed with a two- run single.

Cabrera is batting .452 over his current seven-game hitting streak.

Willits, who had his nine- game hit streak snapped Tuesday, has reached base safely in 24 of 25 games. He also added his eighth stolen base to lead all American League rookies.

Dustin Moseley pitched twomore scoreless innings in relief of Lackey and lowered his ERA to 1.52. Moseley got the game into the ninth inning, and Scot Shields came on to finish things. Guillen made the final out on a line drive that Figgins caught with a dive to his right.

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Photo:

Manager Mike Scioscia, left, and the Angels trainer talk to John Lackey in the first inning.

Ted S. Warren/Associated Press

Box:

ANGELS at SEATTLE

- Doug Padilla